Ethics board finds Briones violated city's code

The Ethics Review Board on Wednesday found former District 8 council candidate Rolando Briones “knowingly violated” the city's ethics code when he won a San Antonio contract in 2011 while serving on the city's Planning Commission.

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The ethics code prohibits city officials, including Planning Commission members, from contracting with San Antonio.

The process to void Briones' on-call professional services contract, which still is active, will begin immediately. Before the Wednesday meeting, City Manager Sheryl Sculley directed Mike Frisbie, director of Capital Improvements Management Services — the department that oversees such contracts — to proceed with voiding the contract if the board found Briones had violated the code, First Assistant City Attorney Martha Sepeda said.

The contract would be up for a yearlong extension next month.

The board decided against issuing a letter of reprimand.

Board member Michael Ariens, a St. Mary's University law professor, said after the meeting that it was clear through the evening's proceedings that Briones had “already been effectively reprimanded.”

The board also chose not to send a recommendation to the council and city manager because it had more information on which to base such a decision.

“We simply said this contract is voidable,” Ariens said.

Briones argued that he never intended to violate the ethics code and that he believed a “conflict of laws” exists between the City Charter and the ethics code. He argued that the charter says the Planning Commission is an advisory board — and not “more than advisory.”

That's a key distinction, because if the commission were merely advisory, then Briones wouldn't have violated the ethics code by seeking a discretionary contract while serving.

Several experts previously have said the Planning Commission undoubtedly is “more than advisory,” at least partly because it can make final decisions on behalf of the city.

The board's finding of violation upholds the precedent that the commission is more than advisory.

Ariens pressed Briones on the issue and asked him whether he recalled swearing on his application for reappointment to the Planning Commission in 2011 that he understood that the panel is a “board or commission that is more than advisory in nature.”

“So you checked that box, but you either don't recall or didn't read that language,” Ariens said.

After several exchanges with Ariens, Briones conceded he saw the information on the form.

“I'm sure I would have read it,” he said of the sworn statement he'd made on the application. “I guess at the time, I didn't understand what it was saying.”

The on-call contract was worth up to $1.5 million over a three-year period. Briones' firm has nearly completed the second year of the contract.

The complaint against Briones was filed by a supporter of then-candidate Ron Nirenberg during the general election.

Nirenberg, who defeated Briones in a June runoff, also faces allegations that he violated the ethics code by accepting in-kind contributions in excess of contribution limits and didn't report them on campaign finance documents.